


When Everything's Over

by misaffection



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, SFN2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-28 16:36:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/309853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misaffection/pseuds/misaffection
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s achieved everything she’d planned to, but it’s not been easy, this sole fight against such forces. | Episode tag for Sanctuary For None Part 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Everything's Over

“I’m not sure I can forgive you for destroying the cellars.”

Helen smiles at the unexpected but very familiar voice. She puts her tablet down on the desk and then flicks the door of the cabinet open. “Forward planning,” she says and hears him chuckle.

“I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

Her smile falters. She turns and looks at him. The three piece suit is flawless, contradicting the usual chaos of his brown hair. He smiles at her, but even at this distance she notices how it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. A hungry gaze sweeps over her and he shakes his head.

“You should have told me,” he says and she thinks that maybe she should.

“I didn’t tell anyone.” She retrieves the bottle and tears off the foil. “I couldn’t tell anyone. There was too much that could have gone wrong, too much at risk.”

Nikola shoves his hands deeper into his trouser pockets and looks away. “I guess we’ll never know.”

Helen thinks of the time she’s had; a lifetime over again, but one she has had to spend in the shadows. He doesn’t know, not all of it at any rate – she’s not stupid enough to think that he’s not figured some of it out. She’s achieved everything she’d planned to, but it’s not been easy, this sole fight against such forces. She’s beyond tired.

“I’m not going to argue with you,” she tells him. Putting the bottle on the desk, she then crosses the room to stand in front of him. “I’m done fighting, Nikola.”

He takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly. Something of the tension leaves him. Yet not all, and Helen knows why. She cups his cheek and chuckles when his eyes widen. “I’m done,” she says again. “I’ve rebuilt the Sanctuary, made a safe place for any Abnormal that wishes to be here. I’m not – we’re not reliant on anyone else; no government, no agency. It’s over.”

“Finally.” His eyes scan her face. “So what will you do now?”

Helen smiles, takes a step closer, and kisses him full on the mouth. This time it’s not a goodbye. Not an end, but a beginning. She breaks away and meets his eyes. Even though he’s told her before that he loves her, even though he’d spent so long pursuing her, she’s still not completely certain of his affections. His arms hang at his sides, hands curled into fists and she wonders if it’s too little, too late.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “But there was so much else to deal with. Never mind the Sanctuary, there was John and Ashley and I just... couldn’t handle anything else.” She drops her gaze and toys with the collar of his shirt. “Will was right – I’ve been scared of letting anyone else close in case I lost them as well.”

“You will never lose me, Helen.” Nikola’s voice is low but firm. He takes her hand and kisses the knuckles. “Never.”

She thought she’d done with crying, but tears track her face. They’re dried by Nikola’s gentle touch and she closes her eyes, leaning even closer. He rests his forehead against hers and she curves a hand around his neck. His span her waist.

For a minute she simply stands there, breathing slowly. She lets go of the fear and tension, of the past and the last of her doubts. An ache starts deep in her stomach, spreading out until her nails bite into the skin of his neck. What she wants now is nothing more than him, finally, because... because...

“I love you.”

It’s taken her another lifetime to realise that. She wonders how she could have been so blind the first time around, but she was and there’s been so much time lost. No more.

She pulls back a little and looks at him. Of course, Nikola doesn’t seem surprised by her declaration. His mouth curves in a smirk that is pure arrogant smugness. Yet she sees the wariness in his eyes, the uncertainty. The vulnerability.

“Really,” she tells him and some of it fades. Not all, though. She doesn’t blame him. “You don’t need to wait any more.”

He blinks, then the smirk widens to a smile that is sure and hungry enough to cause her stomach to flip. She’s not surprised that he doesn’t rush, just pulls her in until she’s pressed against his lean body and then threads long fingers into her hair. His expression is a curious mix of male certainty and childish wonderment, and a laugh bubbles out.

A moment later and she’s not laughing. Her arms are around his neck, her nerves singing as his tongue plunders her mouth. She’s fought this attraction for more than a lifetime, but she is done fighting, done needing more when that’s been beyond her. Done with sacrificing everything to the cause, just and right though it is; now she wants to be selfish, to have her own time.

Nikola deepens the kiss, reminding her that it’s not only been herself that she’s denied. She wonders if he can truly forgive her. He certainly seems to have forgotten. His lips work against hers, but while he definitely wants more, there’s no desperate desire in his kiss.

“Helen,” he breathes when she breaks the kiss in order to haul much-needed oxygen into her lungs. His tone is reverent and carries a slight echo of the vampire that lurks beneath his skin. Dark eyes regard her seriously. “I would have waited forever for you.”

What can she say to that? There aren’t enough words, not in any language. So she hugs him tightly, closing her eyes against the burn of tears when he strokes a hand down her back. He has always been there, as constant and eternal as time itself. Whenever she’s needed him, he’s been at her back. Some times supporting her, at others the thorn in her side, but always, always there. He hadn’t questioned her over John, or Ashley, or even her last, monumental decision. Nikola has trusted her, occasionally when she hasn’t even fully trusted herself.

“I think,” she says and somehow manages to keep her voice steady. “We should take this discussion elsewhere.”

He grins as she steps back and takes his hand. She chuckles again, and that alone makes her feel lighter. She’s not laughed enough these past few months. The last few years. No incident demands her attention, no conflict her unique brand of diplomacy. There is nothing on her agenda now other than spending time with Nikola in bed, none of it sleeping.

Light pours in through her bedroom window. She pauses, because even though this world is one of her own creation, it still takes her breath away. Glancing at Nikola, she finds her own wonder written clear on his face. He shakes his head.

“What you’ve wrought here...” Words fail him. Helen chooses to absorb the moment since Nikola lost for something to say doesn’t happen often.

“Homeland,” she says, feeling a surge of pride and hope. “A new world for Abnormals.”

“It is beautiful, Helen.” He draws her close and she slides her arms around his shoulders. “As are you.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Nikola.”

“I should think so, too.” He winds a lock of her hair around one finger, avoiding her gaze. “I wonder... is there room in this world for me?”

It’s not a question she was expecting, but she doesn’t have to think about the answer. “Oh, most definitely, Nikola,” she says and welds her lips to his. He kisses her back as hungrily, a soft growl rumbling through his chest. One hand is tangled in her hair, the other grips her hip and she can feel his talons as they scrap her skin.

He breathes her name, love and desire reducing him to a husky whisper. She slides her hands down to his chest and then under his jacket. Up and over his shoulders, stripping the garment from him and it drops to the floor. Helen is already busy with his tie, working the knot loose. She tosses it aside and it flutters to the floor, a burgundy flag of surrender. His, hers – she doesn’t know and it no longer matters. Maybe it never did.

Pain shafts when she thinks of her repeated denials, of the number of times she’s pushed him away. Misguided loyalty to John, fear after losing everyone else, everyone that ever mattered. Of the Five, there is her and there is Nikola, but that’s not why she wants him.

She wants him because he’s held her heart for longer than she wants to admit.

Nikola’s waistcoat joins the growing pile of clothing on the floor, which now includes her blouse and shoes. She works on the buttons of his shirt, opening the starched linen to reveal skin that is agelessly flawless and bares no hint of the wounds she knows he’s taken. He is all wiry muscle, lean enough that she can count his ribs. A small triangle of hair arrows down between his pectorals. Helen runs her fingers over it, then lays her hand flat against his chest. His heartbeat is strong, but nowhere near steady. She lets a smile curve her lips.

“Bed, Nikola?”

He nods, a broken jerk of his head, then surprises her by bending and sweeping one arm behind her legs, lifting her effortlessly. She laughs and winds her arms around his neck, resting her head on his bare shoulder as he carries her the few yards to the canopied bed.

She doesn’t relinquish her hold as he lays her down. He grins and slides his body over hers. A soft gasp escapes her and she drops her head back. Teeth graze her neck, lingering over the pulse point. She shudders and gasps again.

He moves, over and then down and then... “Oh God, Nikola.”

It’s been a very long time, but the memory returns quickly, helped along by every gentle caress, every plunging thrust. She rakes her nails down his back in the sure knowledge he’ll heal if she marks him. He knows what he’s doing; she’ll give him that. Why the hell haven’t they done this before?

It has been a long time, and it doesn’t take much to send her gasping over the edge. She groans, having come far quicker than she wanted, knowing that she’s left him behind. Again.

“Bloody hell,” she grouses and shoves at his shoulder. Nikola crashes to the mattress, but she straddles his hips before he can complain. “Can you keep up with me for once?”

“I wasn’t in any rush,” he retorts, then his gaze roams her body. “On the other hand, why should I do all the work?”

Helen laughs. He is incorrigible. But then, that is why she loves him. She looks down. His eyes are clear now, but she wonders what he really thinks of what she did. If any of this has to do with the fact he might never have seen her again.

“No,” he says, and his tone edges on annoyed. “Well, yes, a little, but I love you, Helen. Was I supposed to walk away without feeling anything?”

“But you still did.”

“You asked me to. I have faith that your insane plan was going to work, and it did. Though I did have a moment when I saw the whole damn thing come tumbling down.”

She gives him a sad smile. “So did I. I thought I might never see you again.”

His hands curl around her hips, stilling her steady rock. “And that... mattered?”

“More than anything.” She can tell him that now. She’s so tired of carrying everything deep inside her. “All this was worth the sacrifice, Nikola, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t hurt.” Grabbing his wrists, she peels his hand loose and shifts hard. His pupils dilate on a groan. “Or that I’m not going to live for myself now.”

His laugh transmutes into another groan as she rocks her hips. She watches him get ever closer, and it’s easily the most erotic thing ever. His eyes are impossibly dark, not quite vampiric but not far from it. His lips are parted and his chest heaves as he gulps in air. His fingers bite into her hips as he urges her faster, harder.

Then he loses the last shred of control and he surges up. Helen loses balance and catches herself, hands on his sweat dampened chest. She chuckles but then he thrusts again and tension coils. She blinks. “Oh!”

She’s offered a brief, smug grin, then his eyes close and his grip tightens. He shudders hard. Helen gasps as his climax reverberates through her and drags her with it. She collapses, drained but buzzing with delicious afterglow.

Nikola flips her onto side and then pulls the coverlet over them both. Helen doesn’t ask him to stay and he makes no move to leave. She smiles and snuggles against him. His fingers stroke her upper arm idly. She lets her eyes close, content just to be.

Everything’s over. Now the rest can begin.


End file.
